3663 First for Foodservice has placed sustainability at the heart of its operations since the company was established in 1999. With more than 1,000 vehicles on the road and services that cover more than 30,000 customers, sustainable business practice has been critical to its success.
The company spoke to one of the Best for Business outlets to see how it had made sustainability central to its success.
Louis Naudi and his team at the Royal Sportsman have been practising the philosophy of sustainable business practice over the past 11 years and have a number of initiatives that have seen them make tremendous savings in the long term.
But, as Naudi points out, being more sustainable can start with the smallest task that is simply performed consistently, such as switching off lights when you leave a room, or ensuring that electrical equipment isn't left on stand-by.
To get staff buy in to energy-saving programmes, Lindsay Winser, communications controller at 3663, says: "Every staff member at 3663 considers the impact of their actions and that is what you need to encourage among staff. It's important that every time staff look at an activity, whether that is printing a document or making a cup of tea, they ask themselves the question, 'am I being as energy efficient as I could possibly be?'"
For energy, one programme 3663 runs for its clients is a waste oil recycling programme. Winser explains: "We run more than three-quarters of our fleet of trucks on biodiesel fuel made from customers' and suppliers' recycled waste vegetable oil. It creates a virtual circle - virgin oil is delivered to the customers, who uses it in daily food preparation. The waste oil is then collected, cleaned, processed and turned into biofuel that returns to the 3663 depot where it is once again used to fuel our trucks."
She adds: "At 3663 we work with a number of clients to ensure that they work as sustainably as possible. This extends into programmes that address consolidated deliveries, limiting the amount of packaging on products, local sourcing and even purchasing energy-efficient equipment."